On June 17, 2015, 21 year old white supremacist Dylann Roof attended a prayer meeting at the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. He was not there to pray. He was not there to study the Bible. He was there to kill. After sitting through an hour of the meeting, he opened fire on the 12 other attendees, killing nine of them. All African-American. Six women. Three men. A pastor. A state senator. Unrepentant, Roof confessed his crimes to law enforcement officials, boldly proclaiming that he wanted to start a "race war." In December 2016, a jury found him guilty of 33 federal hate crimes and last week sentenced him to death. He is awaiting trial in South Carolina on 13 counts which also will likely merit a death sentence.
So how should Christians think about the death penalty? It's not an easy topic. In the case cited above, there were countless lives impacted. Countless victims of the senseless violence. Not just those who were murdered in cold blood but those family and friends whose lives will never be the same. A church community rocked to its core. African-Americans once again reminded that there may be no safe places for them and their children in a country still grappling with the horrific legacy of slavery. A nation confronted with the consequences of the evil that still exists within and the need we have to stamp out the sin of racism and prejudice once and for all.
As I have throughout this series, I want to speak from Scripture. Having served as a prison chaplain in the New Jersey State Prison System, I am well-versed in the practical, social, and political arguments for and against the death penalty. Those are very much worth studying but are not my area of expertise. As a pastor, professor, and evangelical Christian, I have dedicated my life to the study, teaching, and preaching of Scripture and actively do all I can to align my convictions with what it teaches. So how should Christians think about the death penalty?
- God is just. From Genesis to Revelation, God declares Himself to be a God of justice. Job 34:12 declares, "The Almighty will not pervert justice." Isaiah 30:18 teaches, "For the LORD is a God of justice." Isaiah 61:8 says, "For I, the LORD, love justice..." And the end of Revelation 20 depicts God sitting on a great white throne and dispensing justice on the earth.
- God's justice is proportional. Genesis 9:6 states, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." Leviticus 24:17 clearly says, "Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death." And the principle of lex talionis applies throughout the Old Testament. Rather than the glorification of death, it was a way to restrict violence and restrain vengeance by forcing wrongdoers to pay a price proportionate to the crime. The death penalty was clearly part of ancient Israelite culture.
- God's justice is demanding. Deuteronomy 24:6 restricts the death penalty only to those cases where two or more eye witnesses will give testimony. Furthermore, the eye witnesses themselves carry out the sentence. "On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death..." So in ancient Israel, the witnesses themselves had to be so convinced of the guilt of the one they were accusing that they were willing to pick up and cast the first stone.
- God's justice transcends punishment. Jesus addresses this issue specifically in Matthew 5:38-41. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." Here Jesus moves the goal posts a bit on us when it comes to justice. It's not that God somehow becomes unjust in His approach to evil in the world, it's that something so earthshattering (The Cross) is going to take place that God's justice will be completely satisfied.
- God's justice is balanced with mercy. In John 8:1-11, we read the famous story of the woman caught in adultery. A capital crime in Israel. The stage is set. The witnesses have come forward. She's been caught in the act. The stones are in hand. There can be no doubt as to her guilt. As to the letter of the Law, she is guilty. As to the letter of the Law, she deserves the death penalty. Jesus' response? "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." Not that she gets a pass. "Go and from now on sin no more," Jesus commands her. Justice and mercy move into balance.
- God's justice is satisfied. This point cannot be overstated. On the cross, Jesus satisfies the justice of God for ALL human sin. Past. Present. Future. For every single man. Woman. Child. Everyone who has ever drawn breath and walked the earth. Romans 3:23 teaches us that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Falling short equates to falling into sin. And falling into sin equates to a capital crime according to Scripture. All therefore are deserving of the death penalty. All of us have rightly earned a death sentence for the thoughts, attitudes, and actions we have that are not of God. And yet God, because He is rich in mercy, "passes over" or refuses to mete such punishment out on us and instead takes it on Himself. Romans 3:24-25, we "are justified by God's grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forth as a propitiation (atoning sacrifice) by his blood, to be received by faith."
This is a deeply complex issue in Scripture but on balance, I believe the trajectory bends towards mercy and away from an "eye for an eye" mentality. While it is true that the death penalty was a statute in ancient Israel, it is equally true that God Himself refused to use it on Cain when he murdered his brother Abel, refused to use it on Moses when he murdered an Egyptian, refused to use it on David when he had Uriah killed to cover up his adultery, and any number of other examples where in His divine forbearance, He passed over former sins.
In addition, in 21st century America, there are a number of other social factors to be considered such as the fact that more than half of death row inmates are people of color. Since 1977, the overwhelming majority of death row inmates (77 percent) have been executed for killing white victims, even though African Americans make up half of all homicide victims. Since 1973, 140 individuals on death row have been exonerated. Almost all death row inmates could not afford their own trial attorney. Of the 344 exonerees represented by the Innocence Project, 20 served time on death row. Of those 344 exonerations, 71 percent involved eyewitness misidentification, 46 percent involved misapplication of forensic evidence, and 28 percent involved false or coerced confessions. (Statistics cited in https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-i-oppose-capital-punishment) Clearly, we have major systemic issues to address in our justice system so to claim biblical warrant to support our use of the death penalty is simply untenable.
Finally, when we kill another human being...we are taking away their chance to hear the gospel. We are not only killing their body but potentially their soul. Romans 1:16 states, the gospel "is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe..." God is so merciful and so gracious, He even extends His offer of salvation to the worst of criminals. If God is willing to forbear, it would make sense that His followers would also forbear. Life in prison without parole takes such criminals off the streets and puts them in a place where they are no longer a danger to society. It is also no picnic. Having served at a maximum security facility with a death row onsite, it is a challenging environment which forces the inmate to face the consequences of their sin on a daily basis. The gospel is available to them in the form of chaplains who come to visit, church services offered, and often lives are truly changed. No one is beyond the reach of God's grace. No one.
I want to close with a word about the victims. Those left behind when a loved one is murdered as in the case of the Emanuel AME Church. Anger in the face of such evil is a righteous emotion. Whenever great evil or injustice occur, the righteous should get angry. The righteous should lament. The righteous should seek justice. But the righteous should NOT seek vengeance. Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19, and Hebrews 10:30 all say unequivocally, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord." God alone will have His revenge against all sin and evil for He alone can pursue vengeance in a righteous way. And because we entrust God alone with this task, we instead are called to offer forgiveness. To move through the stages of our grief and get to a place where we extend grace. Only then can we be free.
At his first court appearance after the shooting, Dylann Roof was confronted by his victims. "I forgive you," said Nadine Collier, daughter of Ethel Lance. "May God have mercy on you," said Felicia Sanders, mother of Tywanza Sanders. "We have no room for hating, so we have to forgive. I pray God on your soul," shared the sister of DePayne Middleton-Doctor. Such powerful words. Such a powerful witness. Such incredible followers of Jesus. The friends and family of the victims showed us that day that in the battle to restrain the evil of our world, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God to tear down every stronghold and every high thing that sets itself up against God. (2 Corinthians 10:4)